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Good car health vibes to <strong>Moe</strong>. Now here's a little detail into the saga of my new car. Feel free to ignore this long post if you don't care...</p>
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<p>Actually the whole process wasn't too bad. It helped that I did a lot of research going into it. Once we figured out the exact car and trim line that we wanted, I contacted a bunch of Honda dealers via email, and I had obtained a price from a dealer that I was happy with. It was $2200 below invoice, and about $4500 below sticker price. I made sure I got an out-the-door price that included all taxes, fees, dealer markups, and what have you. Dealers hate to give out this kind of number because they love to add on junk at the end of the deal to swipe some more $ from you, and they figure that if they hit you late enough with these fees, you're more likely to brush them off and just accept them. But thankfully I had a couple dealers offer me out-the-door prices, and I was happy with the best one.</p>
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<p>But my wife had bought two Hondas from one particular dealer. A Civic in 1995 soon before I met her, and the 2003 Accord that was totalled a few weeks ago. She wanted to give this dealer one last crack at it, so we took our best number and went there. Like I said, I was already willing to pay this best price. So if these guys could beat it by any amount, it would be gravy. I also assumed they would try to play games and give us numbers other than out-the-door numbers, so I was ready to walk out quickly. But they actually did quickly come back with an OTD number that was $200 less than our other one. So now we're $2400 below invoice! That looked good to me, so I told 'em we'll do it. </p>
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<p>Still, I kept waiting for the hammer to drop. By that, I mean I kept waiting for them to say "Oh by the way, we have to add on such-and-such extra fee", meaning the OTD number really wasn't OTD. But they never did. I was prepared to pay cash, but I asked about financing anyway. I knew Honda had 0.9% financing going on, and I figured that I might partake of that if I could. However, I was told that in order to reach the low OTD number, I had to use a manufacturer-to-dealer rebate. And I could only use the rebate OR the 0.9% financing, not both. I'd have to go with the standard financing terms, which would be 4-point-something percent, based on my credit. So at this point I just figured, okay, I'll pay cash. I didn't tell them that. I just said I'll take the rebate. </p>
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<p>Once we got in the room with the finance guy, he told me that the financing rate I could get was 4.39%. I passed, and just said I'll pay cash. He starts typing on his computer and it's silent for a few seconds, then he says "What if I got you 3.19%?" Well, that kinda came out of nowhere. It didn't sound bad, and I actually considered it for a second. But finally I decided I liked the idea of paying cash and not having a car payment. And I was prepared for it anyway. So still I passed. No big deal. We went ahead with the transaction.</p>
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<p>After we were done with him, we went back to the salesman who took us to the car. He showed my wife all the bells and whistles of the car. This is how to use the radio, this is how to adjust the seat, this is how to open the sunroof, etc. Then we go back inside and he says he has to get the final paperwork from his manager so that we can pay, and he tells us to wait. </p>
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<p>Well, after a couple minutes, he comes back. He says, "I've got some bad news. Remember I told you that you could only use the rebate if you take the financing? Well, since you paid in cash, I'll have to charge you the additional amount of the rebate". ($1400!). Yup, here's where the hammer fell. They finally got around to trying to screw us. I blew my top and yelled at him, "You said I could take the rebate <strong>OR</strong> the low financing. Not that I <strong>HAD</strong> to take the high financing." </p>
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<p>I could see he was nervous about this. I think this kid had just been bullied by his manager. Initially, they probably were willing to give me the low OTD number because they figured they could make up their profit by swindling me on a trade-in and financing. By I didn't have a trade-in and I declined the financing, so I just took away all opportunities for them to make money. And thus the manager was trying one last-ditch effort to make some profit. Anyway, the salesman and I got into a quick back and forth of "You said this", "No I didn't", "Yes you did"... Finally, my wife just yelled out, "Screw this! Rip everything up and we're outta here!" This isn't like her, so I was really shocked. But I agreed. I was pissed off, mostly because we just wasted all afternoon and it was probably too late to go to the other dealer, and thus we'd have to wait until another day to buy the car. But the salesman said, "Hold on a second, I'll be right back". He leaves, apparently to talk to his manager. He comes back in a minute or so and says "Forget it, we'll just do the deal the way we originally discussed". Well, alright. We paid our money and that was it. </p>
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<p>Before that last little glitch happened, I was actually quite pleased with the whole process. I'm a little soured that they tried to pull that one last shenanigan, but thankfully they didn't have a leg to stand on. We got our car, and we got the price we wanted. Actually even better than the price we wanted. </p>
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<p>I definitely learned that it's best to do a <strong>TON</strong> of research before buying a car. Get a bunch of dealers to compete against each other. Many of them won't want to talk OTD numbers at all, so just scratch those off your list. Once you get an OTD number from someone, shop that around and see if you can get a better one. I think the process will be more difficult for me next time because I will have a trade-in and will probably need financing. So I may not be able to get away so clean next time. But at least for now, I'm happy...</p>